Unplug your kindle, hold the power button and the vol down button simultaneously for ten seconds. The battery will appear as a low charge. This resets the kindle, from here, plug the charger in and wait until it turns on, should be s few minutes!! Done

11 Answers

I picked up a Kindle Fire for $25 with the dreaded battery too low to charge message.

Indeed the Kindle was not charging, when I attempted to power it on it briefly flashed the battery was low then went off, the orange charging light would not come on. I figured since the Kindle has a notoriously weak charging port it was likely that was broken, so I followed the very good instruction for teardown here on iFixit to remove the motherboard for inspection. Not only was the charging port loose, it was completely detached!

A close look at the charger port attachment shows it is indeed very poorly designed for constant plugging and unplugging, and probably heating and cooling. There are two metal attachment prongs on the charging port which fit in corresponding holes in the MB to hold the port. There are two flush solder points for power on either side of the port (the design would have been significantly better if these two points were through the board and not soldered on the surface), and five micro pins. The solder looked to me to be brittle, and likely just detached after heating/cooling, with the motion up/down motion of plugging and unplugging the charging cable, the whole port just pulled off the board - a combination of poor design and bad solder.

So I cleaned up all the contact points, I put a tad of flux on the power points and pins, and with a bit of fresh solder and my iron hot, reattached everything.

The end result, the Kindle charging as it should. Hope this quick guide is useful to anyone else with the no charge problem, if you're at all handy with a solder iron this fix is not as hard as you would think.

Thank you John Painter for not charging. This nails it. My nephew and nieces begged me to fix their non-charging Kindle Fire. Knew it wasn't the charger since Amazon sent them a new one. At first, suspected it could possibly be a bad battery but something in my gut told me it was the micro USB adaptor and found this guide. Boom. Once I figured this out, I text messaged my oldest niece and asked if any of them dropped the Kindle and she said her youngest brother got scared once and threw the Kindle on the ground. The mystery was solved and now we can fix it.

Warning:

The hardest part (for me) was sadly getting the case open. I had to use a metal tool briefly because I quickly broke both my smaller plastic tools in quick succession. I felt like a loser and wished that I had taken a DeVry class based on the million commercials I saw in the 80s and 90s. My first reaction was, "What kind of crappy tools are these that break?!" but then I realized that if they hadn't broken, I would be holding a cracked Kindle (to quote/paraphrase Norm McDonald, "Merry Christmas kids, hope you like crap"). At the end of the day, it wasn't the end of the world but I did break two clips. Hopefully, it won't be a problem when I reassemble.

After I got the Kindle open, everything was moderately easy. Little hiccups here and there but very intuitive. Obviously, you will need the iFixit standard tool kit to get down to the broken micro USB connector. Never a fan of prying off a lithium battery that is glued. I'm always scared that I will puncture the battery and it will explode in my face based on the warning labels. Not sure if that would happen but in my head that is how the movie plays out.

I've isolated the broken micro USB connector. Next step is to find a replacement since one of the 5 pins is snapped and there are only 4 pins visible. Will report back once I find one. Thanks again,

The charge plug port on the kindle wears out over time and the plug needs a special angle to work. If you get the message "battery too low to power on kindle", and you are unable to get the orange light to stay on while plugged-in, then here is what you do. While plugged-in with screen facing up, tilt the plug up about 30-40 degrees and the orange light should stay on. Now, to keep this charging while your away, just lay the plug end where the cord meets the plug end on top of a book. This will keep the angle you need to continue charging.

I was about to drop my 4-year old Kindle Fire into the tech junk drive, and then I tried this tip. Miraculous. But how random that putting the charger on a book is the answer. Yay, tech savvy fitcruisin.

I bought a kindle 10.1 in Aug. 2016. Everything was great until Oct. I noticed it wasn't charging. I put a book under the area where charger goes in thinking it wasn't getting its connection like a cell phone. It was at 18% and before I knew it it wa dead!!! During the month of October my husband got cancer and today is the first day I've looked at it. It's deader than a door nail. I plugged it in thinking ... Maybe and nothing.

I'm looking for your opinion.. I believe it's the port. I think we stepped on the cord while it was plugged in or one of our three dogs did.

I am planning on taking it into a shop but don't want to get screwed over. Do you think it's the port? And what should I be charged for a 10.1 kindle tablet. Port??

I sincerely appreciate your help in this matter. I only wish I was gifted as you in having the knowledge to repair it myself.

Holding the charging plug at an angle will speed up the separation of the charging port from the MB. What you are doing is applying pressure to contact points which have already started to separate from the MB, and forcing them to touch unfortunately each time you do that you're flexing already brittle solder on those lose connection pins. It can as a last ditch effort give you a charge before it runs dry so you can get data off of your Kindle.

the kindle fire has a problem with the usb micro port on the main board if you take the back off and take out the screws and the detach the cables you will discover the usb micro charging port has became lose from the board try soldiering it back on.good luck

i found holding down power button til you force a shut down a few times clears up cashes and the power button stays on but upon futher testing using the angle worked somewhat i found if i laid it flat and then moved not the plug but the cord to the plug i got the light to come on (orange charging light) and dont touch it til it done charging .

but i can see i might have to replace the port or have it cleaned--- one of the sites recommended me to buy a port and take it to a cell repair shop to have them replace it another choice for those not knowledgeable in electronic repairs

i also would be afraid of messing up the circuit board i'm a clutz im glad to know its possible that it just came lose and may not need it replacement

also amazon sells repair tool kit if anyone need to find one . thanks for all the info

I had two different problems where my kindle would not charge. If it is to low of a battery leave it plugged in for 2-3 days and it will be fully charged. If you plug it in and it is not charging it is not always a problem with the charging port. It could also be the prongs on your charger is worn down from plugging and unplugging you kindle.

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